We stayed together the whole time until Tuesday morning
Ao largo de Ilhabela, no litoral paulista, o mar devolveu um corpo após uma semana de buscas por Dheorge Pereira, desaparecido desde 24 de junho quando um passeio de jet-ski com uma colega se transformou em tragédia. Bruna, a sobrevivente, foi resgatada 42 horas depois à deriva, debilitada e com hipotermia, a mais de 20 quilômetros do ponto de partida. A identidade do corpo aguarda confirmação forense, mas a história já carrega o peso daquilo que o mar raramente devolve intacto: a certeza, e o luto.
- Um passeio descompromissado virou emergência quando os dois não retornaram ao anoitecer — e ninguém sabia para onde tinham ido.
- Bruna sobreviveu 42 horas à deriva no Atlântico aberto, resgatada entre duas ilhas com hipotermia grave e forças quase esgotadas.
- Helicópteros, equipes de defesa civil e bombeiros vasculharam o mar por dias, guiados pelo jet-ski submerso e pelo colete salva-vidas de Dheorge encontrado flutuando.
- Bruna quebrou o silêncio nas redes sociais: estiveram juntos até a manhã de terça-feira, a correnteza era implacável, e ela nunca o viu afundar.
- Um corpo foi encontrado na segunda-feira — a família espera, o laudo forense ainda não confirmou, e o litoral guarda suas respostas por mais um pouco.
Na tarde de segunda-feira, equipes de defesa civil e bombeiros recuperaram um corpo nas águas de Ilhabela, encerrando — ao menos geograficamente — uma semana de buscas por Dheorge Pereira. A identidade ainda não foi confirmada: os restos mortais foram encaminhados ao Instituto Médico Legal para análise forense.
Tudo começou em 24 de junho, quando Dheorge e sua colega Bruna Damaris Sant'anna da Silva, 26 anos, saíram de jet-ski por volta das 16h de um encontro com amigos na praia. Não avisaram ninguém para onde iam. Horas depois, nenhum dos dois havia voltado. No dia seguinte, mergulhadores localizaram o jet-ski submerso — um ponto de partida para o grid de busca. Em 28 de junho, um colete salva-vidas identificado como de Dheorge foi encontrado flutuando. Ele o havia usado. Não foi suficiente.
Bruna foi resgatada em 26 de junho, dois dias após o acidente, à deriva entre duas ilhas a cerca de 20 quilômetros da costa. Estava no mar há 42 horas, com hipotermia severa e sem forças. Sobreviveu. Dias depois, em recuperação, publicou um relato nas redes sociais: os dois permaneceram juntos no oceano aberto por quase dois dias inteiros, lutando contra uma correnteza que os empurrava cada vez mais para o largo. O jet-ski afundou. Na manhã de terça-feira, ela o perdeu de vista. 'Meu colega nunca tirou o colete e eu não o vi afundar', escreveu.
Ela explicou o silêncio dos dias anteriores — medicada, em choque, ainda incapaz de processar a perda, muito menos de falar com a família de Dheorge. Havia prestado depoimento à polícia. Agora tentava se reconstruir. Enquanto isso, o litoral de São Paulo, belo e implacável, guardava seus segredos — até esta segunda-feira.
A body surfaced in the waters off Ilhabela on Monday afternoon, pulled from the Atlantic during a week-long search for Dheorge Pereira, a man who vanished after taking a jet-ski into open water with a colleague. Civil defense and fire department crews recovered the remains, though authorities stopped short of confirming identity. The body will be sent to the medical examiner's office for forensic analysis and identification.
Dheorge had been missing since June 24, when he and his coworker Bruna Damaris Sant'anna da Silva, 26, set out on a jet-ski around 4 p.m. on what was meant to be a casual ride from a beach gathering with friends. They told no one where they were headed. Within hours, neither returned. In the days that followed, searchers found his life vest floating in the water and the jet-ski itself, submerged and useless, which at least gave them a starting point for the search grid.
Bruna's survival story emerged in fragments. She was found two days after the accident, on June 26, roughly 18 to 22 kilometers from where they had started, drifting between two small islands. She had been in the water for 42 hours. When rescue teams pulled her aboard, she was severely weakened and suffering from hypothermia—her body temperature dangerously low, her strength nearly gone. She survived. Dheorge did not resurface.
Days later, Bruna posted a statement on social media reconstructing what happened. She and Dheorge had stayed together in the open ocean for roughly two days, she wrote. The current was powerful, relentless, pushing them farther from shore and deeper into the Atlantic. The jet-ski was sinking. Neither could hold on to it. By Tuesday morning, June 26, they were still together. Then she lost sight of him. "We stayed together the whole time until Tuesday morning," she wrote. "My colleague never took off his life vest and I didn't see him go under."
She explained her silence in the days after rescue—she had been recovering, medicated, unable to process what had happened, let alone speak to Dheorge's family about their loss. She had given her account to police. Now she was resting, trying to rebuild herself from the shock and the cold.
The search had been methodical. Fire department helicopters and the state police's Águia helicopter swept the waters. On June 25, the day after they vanished, crews spotted the sunken jet-ski in the afternoon, which narrowed the search zone. On June 28, authorities confirmed that a life vest recovered from the water belonged to Dheorge. He had worn it. It had not saved him. The ocean had taken him anyway.
Now, a week later, a body had been found. Forensic examination would determine whether it was him. The families waited. The coast of São Paulo, beautiful and dangerous, kept its secrets a little longer.
Notable Quotes
We stayed together the whole time until Tuesday morning. My colleague never took off his life vest and I didn't see him go under.— Bruna Damaris Sant'anna da Silva, survivor, in a social media statement
I still haven't had the chance to talk with my colleague's family because I was recovering and didn't have the strength to relive everything that happened.— Bruna Damaris Sant'anna da Silva, explaining her initial silence
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a jet-ski ride turn into a week-long tragedy? What goes wrong so quickly?
Strong currents. They went out without a destination, without telling anyone where they were going. The ocean doesn't care about your plans. Once the current has you, it pulls you away from shore faster than you can fight back.
Bruna survived 42 hours in the water. Dheorge didn't. What's the difference?
Luck, partly. But also that she held on. She drifted, she endured the cold, she stayed conscious. Dheorge was wearing his life vest—she saw that. But the ocean is indifferent to precautions. A life vest keeps you afloat. It doesn't keep you alive if the cold takes you, if you slip under in the dark, if no one finds you in time.
Why did Bruna stay silent for days after being rescued?
Trauma. Hypothermia. The weight of knowing her colleague was still out there, probably dead, and she couldn't do anything about it. How do you call someone's family and say, "I made it, but he didn't"? She needed to survive first. The talking came later.
What does finding a body a week later actually mean for this story?
It means the search is over. It means someone's family gets an answer, even if it's the worst one. It means the ocean finally gave back what it took. But it also means forensics has to confirm it, has to be certain. Until then, there's still a small space for hope, even though everyone knows what that body probably is.
Does this change how people think about jet-skis off this coast?
It should. But it probably won't, not for long. People see the danger as something that happens to other people. Until it happens to them.